PTS Fieldcraft Syllabus, Released May 2024

Adult Staff Execs
352

Honestly, after a bit of reflection, I’m on board with 2I/C for gold fieldcraft.

Standards, efficiency, welfare, and motivation, having your own skills in personal admin, movement and comms, and “doing the job” up to a level that is relevant to that more mentor-y role is a) valid, b) useful and relevant, and c) attainable both in delivery and the broadest range of cadets.

Planning, orders, and all that stuff can be bolted on under field leadership.

It’s a distinction that we make though due the imposed restrictions on how far we venture into the syllabus.

We rightly need to draw a line, we don’t have the capacity in terms of time or personnel resources to go as far as the ACF.

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353

I get what you’re saying; however, I do find it incredibly inconsistent that many squadrons will have cadet NCOs appointed as flight commanders while the same organisation has a policy that no cadet (other than, possibly QJLs) can command a section.

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354

It’s more evidence of the idiocy that infests HQAC.

A cadet has to go through a lengthy training syllabus to be appointed 2IC of a group of 7 other cadets, under the immediate supervision of a member of staff, and adjacent to other members of staff if wearing MTP.

Cadets with minimal training and experience can wander about Snowdonia, or the Lakes, or the Cairngorms for 3/4/5 days with minimal, remote supervision if wearing red goretex.

And, apparently there’s no problem with the logic here - it’s all fine.

Am I the only one who sees this stuff and wonders if there’s a serious problem with substance misuse in the ACO?

355

Are you upset hide and seek isn’t in the PTS?

There’s a big difference between fieldcraft and AT, purely in the amount of required pre-training and expectations we have set by the safe system and safe practice.

If you have any constructive ideas of how you think the syllabus could better serve the organisation we have then feel free to jump in the teams channel and suggest them.

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356

I’d be interested to see a list of the objective dangers of half a dozen cadets walking 5km across wild country with daysacks on, putting in a 3 hour OP to watch a road or whatever, and then walking 5km, compared to a list of the objective dangers of half a dozen cadets walking and camping 30km over 3 days carrying 20kg rucksacks through the Cheviot…

I’d then be intrigued to see those lists put together, and a rationale made that one of them was a potentially very dangerous activity that had to be immediately and continuously supervised, and the other was a character-building experience that requires 2 five minute chats a day for supervision and guidance that would help them to grow into mature, responsible adults…

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357

But what your describing is nothing to do with the syllabus or content we have to deliver.

You’re describing a general issue with the risk management the MOD and the RAFAC leadership associate with different activities.

358

It would probably be helpful to highlight where to find the teams chat as it just taken me a little searching to stumble across.

I think the fieldcraft syllabus is a good step in the right direction however I think one thing that is confusing it & hampering it is JL.

JL has always been a basic infantry course & seen the pinnacle of field craft when it’s not. I think the question of “what about JL” just holds back the general fieldcraft syllabus & allowing it to develop.

I was looking for the breakdown for each level & can’t find it now but from what I can make out it seams to be a little stretched out. I think this is the institutional issue with the PTS rather than specific to fieldcraft.

If we look at what can be delivered at Sqn level then patrols should be in the blue or bronze syllabus rather than silver.

The old ACP 16 made this mistake so cadets were faffing with range stuff and packing bags rather than field signals.

My thinking (assuming I’m not quite right with the syllabus above would be)

Blue - knowledge to do a two - four hour exercise
Bronze - knowledge to do a 12-24hr exercise with a single night in the field, maybe ambushes
Silver - 36-48 hour exercise, two nights in the field (so patrol harbours & section attacks)
Gold - instructor, section IC training

I would like there to be more inter-service recognition of skills & how things cross reference but this is a general big bear for me across the air cadet syllabus.

Perhaps one of the Comms could be that silver is equivalent to ACF 2-star? It would give a bench mark & allow the syllabus to be see.

What I don’t want to see is that if the local ACF or CCF offer to give us some fieldcraft training because we don’t have the skills ourselves, we can take them up on it, even if just instructors rather than joint trainering rather than saying “no you have to do the ATC fieldcraft instructors course instead”

There isn’t the fieldcraft knowledge or experience in the ATC - excluding those who’s knowledge comes from other cadet forces, the number of people in the ATC who know what they are doing in fieldcraft can fit in to a small church hall (and not all QJLs & JL DS would be in that hall).

so if we want to succeed in the delivery of the new we need to use external resources where we are not the expects & keep flexibility of options open.

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359

Conversely, the quals needed to take a cadet out in a tent are much more difficult to achieve than the quals needed to take the same cadets out and camp them under a tarpaulin?

360

I kind of agree, we have a set amount of subject matter that has to be split in to arbitary blocks.

From emmemory I don’t think we actually go outside of ACF 1 Star which is one of the issues we have drawing parralells with the ACF.

The recent video on socials from WO Jennings is a good breakdown of where the different levels take you.

I think the focus now is that it is more about the leadership than ever. The new syllabus will improve the standard of those going on JL so will therefore allow JL to step up what it does. This will allow for incremental mission creep as we can prove people are capable of taking and applying the syllabus safely.

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361

IIRC from the early presentations on this (back during lockdown) there is the potential to expand what we do in fieldcraft but we have to build capability before we do so. And putting consistency into the training being delivered is essential for that.

The part I want to see addressed is the staff training and development as that is IMO where we have dropped the ball in the last few years. We are not bringing in new instructors, and those of us who are delivering are spread thin (and frankly not getting any younger!)

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362

This is one of the biggest things being addressed in these changes. New instructor courses with course folders and standardised delivery nationally.

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363

The course folders are good.

We need training courses for staff (initial and CPD).

We’d probably get more uptake if they are modular, delivered in single day blocks mixing on line and face to face. I can see VA/travel restrictions making weekends harder to do?

364

Mix in defence estate slowly becoming non existant for cadet forces in the near future

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365

The new courses are blended learning.

Splitting them out in to multiple single sessions may be possible to avoid losing whole weekends or maybe even a bunch of evenings. Would depend on the delivering team and RHQ who assure it.

366

That’s good.

To @AlexCorbin’s point we can sometimes get DE for a single day when a residential weekend just isn’t possible, if we can share bookings with the range crew so much the better (and they are typically doing single days as well)

367

Biggest issue with JL was always that there couldn’t be the necessary focus on the leadership aspects because the underlying fieldcraft skills weren’t there.

When are the new FCI courses coming online?

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368

This is what concerns me.
Have had over the years to requal or sit through death by same old powerpoint
No more. Havent got time to waste redoing the same quals i already have.

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369

It’s all part of the same package being released.

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frustratingly it is named as a “leadership course” but in practise is “i’ve passed the hardest (physical) course the RAFAC offers as its basically an infantry course so I am now better than most” fieldcraft course.

for whatever reason all the Cadets I have seen post JL, have only shown interest in specializing/concentrating their new learnt skills in a fieldcraft environment rather than an general “leadership” environment

see if this is Bronze, then I think this should still be capable of teaching at a Sqn level.

in the same vein we can teach campcraft under the AT Banner and get the cadets to cook up something on a gas stove/Trangia, (ie gas and liquid fuels) we should be able to do the same with hex blocks (solid fuel) and get the cadets boiling the bag on a Sqn night

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